A 26-year-old man has been charged with mischief after a mosque was vandalized in Montreal.

Gaven Johnson was arrested Tuesday morning near the Tawuba mosque on Ontario St. East.

He appeared in court Tuesday afternoon and was charged with mischief in relation to property, an object or place used for religious worship, that is motivated by bias, prejudice or hate.

Johnson was previously convicted of assault in 2014 and was convicted of breaking parole and probation conditions last year.

On Tuesday morning neighbours of the Tawuba mosque called 9-1-1 to report a disturbance.

Police arrived to find windows had been smashed and that someone had emptied a garbage can on the carpet where the faithful go to pray.

Imam Youssouf Fofana said the mosque had been attacked before, with windows being smashed and a fire set on the premises.

"We are really shocked. We never think it's going to go that way, to this extent," said Fofana.

He added that the mosque has always gotten along with its neighbours, making the attacks even more shocking.

"In the neighbourhood, we don't have any problems here," he said. "We have no complaints, we've been here more than 10 years. Very peaceful neighbourhood."

In the weeks since a gunman shot and killed six people at a mosque in Quebec City, several mosques have been vandalized and police have reported a spike in hate crime incidents.